Question Design

If you could add one subject to every curriculum - five-year-olds through to chief executives - what would it be?

Prompting LLMs? Climate science? Nutrition?

Mine would be questions.

It takes empathy and precision. The microscope to see the detail, the telescope to spot what's coming.

A great question is a billiard break. One shot, and everything opens up in the right position. Unlike pool, there's no chalk dust on your hands to show you've been practising.

Asking is the smallest part of it. Like any trick shot, a question needs design (the angle), timing (the moment), delivery (the touch) and follow-through (the effect).

They need sequencing and layering too. Build tension, release it. Create space, and let someone else fill it.

Whether you're helping a five-year-old follow their curiosity or a chief executive read a market shift, the question comes first.

Ask the wrong one and everybody spends the next hour answering it.